Baby Sitting: Ninja Style
by DatJaden
Summary: When Harry is approached by a strange woman to protect some kid Harry can't say no, and not just because of the money. Will Harry be able to protect Naruto from the Akatsuki, Sasuke, Madara and himself? Sometimes being a professional Wizard Suck
1. The meeting

Hello all,

Alright I've found that I'm developing a bit of a block on my Ouran/Inuyasha stories so I'm going to set them aside for a week or two. I'm going to use this story as a filler to keep the creativity flowing. This is my first time doing a Dresden files story as well as writing in first person. Please be kind and I hope all of you like it.

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I've seen a lot of scary things in my life, way too much in my opinion. I've faced Vampires, Zombies, and Werewolves [Oh my] and they didn't scare me as much as the two people sitting in front of me. It wasn't their appearances; they looked rather normal, other than the fact that the woman's boobs had be at least an EE cup but that's besides the point. What was making me consider running away screaming was the amount of power that was coming off of them in waves. My wizard senses were screaming at me to get away NOW. Of course, I wasn't listening. They apparently wanted me to do a job and I kinda needed the money. Being a professional wizard doesn't exactly rake in the dough you know.

"What exactly do you want me to do Miss?" I asked, keeping my tone polite.

The woman's lips pulled up in a smirk and she leaned back in her chair, looking rather comfortable. The kid, there was no other word for him because he looked barely older than sixteen, sitting next to her was staring off into space as if questioning why he was here.

"You are very quick to the point Mr. Dresden." she said with amusement. I could detect a faint Asian accent in her voice. "I want to hire you to protect someone." Her golden eye flickered over to the boy next to her.

Ah, so that was it. Maybe the kid was her son? They did look a little alike now that I stared at them closely. I also noticed the look of anger that passed over the kid's face as she spoke. Apparently he didn't think that he needed protection…_great_. Though why ask for a Wizard's help when you obviously had a very large supply of power. I leaned over my desk, linking my fingers together in front of my face as I thought. So basically I'd be baby sitting Goldie Locks over there, shouldn't be too hard.

"I assume you know my rates?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the woman. When she nodded I continued, a weary tone to my voice. "Fine, I'll do it."

A large smile broke out on her face and the kid groaned, obviously hoping that I'd refuse. The woman took out a very large envelope and placed it on the table. I reached out my hand and picked it up. I opened it and pulled out another envelope, peaking inside of it and seeing more money than I'd seen in a long time. She laughed at my expression and I could only stare at her for a moment.

"This is a lot of money to be throwing around Lady," I said, sounding incredulous. Her smile grew wider and she waved a dismissive hand.

"I'm the leader of the village and I'm willing to pay what ever it takes to keep Naruto safe," she said in a serious voice.

The kid, whose name I was going to venture to guess was Naruto, glared at her but she seemed to take no mind of it. In fact she didn't even seem to notice. How someone could not notice a glare that frightening I don't know, because I know it scared the shit out of me. And I was supposed to watch this kid for an undetermined frame of time? Lovely.

I turned my attention to the papers inside of the envelope and skimmed them quickly. Ninja, huh? Well that was certainly strange but I have no room to talk so I kept my mouth shut. The further I read the more and more these people made sense to me. The woman sure did take great notes; it explained everything from the ranking system in Konoha to everything there was to know about Naruto. I couldn't see why the woman wanted him protected.

"I have to be going now Mr. Dresden, we will be in touch." She said, rising to her feet.

Naruto made a move to follow her, perhaps to argue with her about being left with me but he didn't seem to get the chance. It seemed she knew exactly what he was going to say and stopped him before he could fully rise from the chair. She placed a hand upon his shoulder and shook her head.

"Naruto it's safer for you, and the village, for you to stay here." she said quietly. I could see his shoulders slump as he gave up trying to reason with her. I felt a little bad for the kid, he obviously wanted to be fighting what ever was after him not sit here and be protected by me. I could understand that.

We sat in silence for a moment after she left, he didn't meet my eyes and I didn't say anything. I glanced briefly down at the money and sighed. Might as well go get something to eat while I had the money – it'd been a while since I'd eaten anything other than spaghetti O's.

"Come on kid, lets get something to eat."

Ninjas: never thought I'd see the day. I took a swill of my beer as I read over the papers in more detail. Dear god, how was this kid still alive? It looked like more people wanted him dead than me, and that's saying a lot. I glanced up for a moment to look at the kid. He was picking at his food and I was surprised to see that he hadn't taken a bite of the godly food that Mac had made.

"What, afraid it's poisoned?" I asked, purely in jest. He glanced up at me, not amused.

"I don't even know what the hell this is!" he exclaimed, looking vaguely annoyed. I couldn't help but chuckle and shake my head. From out of the corner of my eye I could see Mac glaring at him as he cleaned the glasses.

"Just eat it kid, it won't hurt you." I said, picking up my fork and taking a bit myself. He watched me for a moment before digging into the food. I went back to reading and it was a few minutes before the he spoke again.

"So you're a wizard," he asked slowly. I didn't look up but nodded my head slowly. "As much as you're a ninja."

I glanced up and was surprised to see respect in his eyes. Normally when I told someone that I was a wizard they chuckled nervously and left quickly. Well I guess it wouldn't seem so strange to him, being a Ninja and all. Maybe he'd met a whole lot of Wizards back in his village, though I highly doubted that. I took another slow bite and thought of a way to phrase the question that was forming in my mind.

"Your record here says that you failed your exams three times, can I ask why?"

I saw immediately that this was the wrong thing to ask, as he immediately lowered his eyes and glared at his plate.

Great Harry, anger the Ninja that can most likely kill you in your sleep. Nice move.

"The first time the Teacher failed me because he didn't like me and the other times I just goofed off and decided I didn't care if they passed or failed me," he muttered, taking a bite of his food.

I stared at him for a long moment, surprisingly feeling angry for this boy I'd only known for a short time. How could people treat other people like this? I knew the answer of course but it still made me angry. I took another bite and let the subject drop. From what I'd read about this kid he was one of the most stubborn person I'd most likely ever encounter, other than myself of course. I also knew that he was trying to get stronger, maybe I could help with that. Why I was thinking about teaching him after I already had an apprentice I don't know. I'm not too bright at times.

"Who's Sasuke?"

It'd been bugging me while I read his information. It kept repeating that he wanted to get stronger to drag this Sasuke person back to the village. Never once did it say who this person was. I hoped that I could get this information out of him without a fight. He was silent for a long while and I began to worry that I'd struck another soft subject.

"He was my best friend before he betrayed the village. I'm going to get stronger and drag him back even if I have to break every bone in his body to do it."

I glanced up at him quickly, not expecting that. What did 'betrayed the village' mean? Hmm, another mystery. Just what I needed. Oh well. I yawned and drained the last of my beer. I needed to get home and let Mouse out before he decided to use Mister's litter box. I did not want to clean that up. I slapped some money on the table and pushed my chair back.

"Come on, time to head to my place."

Naruto stared around the apartment in wonder, but apparently like it because he immediately let his face split into a large smile and he plopped down on the sofa. I opened my mouth to say something when Mouse came barreling out from my room and jumped up onto the sofa...right onto Naruto.

"MOUSE OFF!!!" I yelled, rushing to pull the dog off of the teen. But I needn't have worried because within seconds Naruto had the dog sitting on the side of him rather than on top of him.

"Nice dog," he said, rubbing his chest.

"Yep, and it seems like he likes you." I chuckled, moving toward the trap door in the floor. I needed to speak to Bob about a few things and now seemed like the perfect time. "Make your self at home, don't leave the house. I'll be back in a minute," I said, pulling the trap door open.

"Whatever."

I didn't glance back at him as I climbed down into the basement and felt my teeth chatter. I hadn't grabbed my robe but I'd deal with it. I was only going to be down here for a few minutes anyway.

"Bob, wake up. I got a few questions that might challenge your almighty knowledge," I called, moving toward the skull on the shelf. It took a moment but orange lights blinked to life in the eye sockets of the skull. Bob stared down at me in silence for a moment.

"What is it now, got some murder case you have to investigate? Or is it some missing kid?" He asked sarcastically.

"No, I need to know what a Jinchuriki is," I said, sitting down on the stool near my work table.

"Someone you don't fuck with and if you're thinking about messing with one don't," Bob said, a slight bit of panic in his voice. "I'm serious Harry, Jinchuriki are very dangerous if you get on their bad side." I held up my hand and shook my head with a sigh.

"No need to worry, I've been hired to protect one but I don't know what they are." I closed my eyes wearily.

"Wow, that's strange. Most of them are powerful enough to protect themselves. Anyway, in basic they're human containers for the Tailed Demons," Bob said, a rare kind of respect in his voice. I opened my eyes to stare at him for a moment. So the kid sitting in my living room was a human container for a demon? Most likely a very powerful demon if it had to be sealed inside of a human, something I hadn't thought possible. "Which one are you protecting?" Bob asked, not noticing my preoccupation.

"Um...The Kyuubi...I think..." I muttered.

"Holy shit on a shingle Harry! That's the most powerful off all; it's the Nine Tailed Fox! This means that the kid you're protecting is from Konoha...that's the last place I heard the Kyuubi being. Nasty temper he had." Bob's eyes glowed brighter. I stared at him and let the information sink into my brain. So Naruto contained one of the most powerful of these demons... What had I gotten myself into now?!

"Anything else I should know about them? Any possible danger from him?" I asked, rubbing a hand over my eyes. Bob's chuckle only made me want to throw him. I just needed the damned answers.

"Not unless something really, really pisses him off or he's in great danger of dying. He'll be more likely to taking 'gifts' of the demons chakra. That might temporarily cause him to loose a bit of his reasoning abilities and go on a rampage," Bob said, his voice growing serious once more. I stared at him, understanding some of what he was saying. I didn't understand one thing though.

"What's Chakra?"

"Chakra is kinda like your magic, it's a type of life force. It allows them to use their techniques and such. It's a bit different than magic though, it's more versatile," he said. "I'm being totally serious here Harry, you might want to get some back up on this. Maybe Michael can help with this. Whoever is after this kid is big league if their going outside of the village to find help. Who's after him anyway?"

I nodded and rubbed my eyes once more. It was time to get some sleep and possibly a shower. "Some group named the Akatsuki." I muttered. I glanced up to see Bob frown, which was a feat all by itself seeing as he's in a skull and all.

"You sure have your hands full here Harry, they're a bunch of criminals that most don't fuck with."

"Yeah well I'm not most people, am I?" I got up and walked toward the trapdoor. I needed sleep and time to think of a plan. "Thanks for the info Bob, I'll be sure to get you new romance novels."

"No problem. Hey, ask the Container if he can get a hold of some Make out Paradise books, okay?"

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I hope all of you like it, I'm going to start work on the next chapter soon and seeing as Thanksgiving break is coming up I'm going to get time to work on it then. Well until next chapter

Sailor Emerald


	2. Murder scene and back up

"Who's the kid?"

I glanced back at Naruto quickly to see his reaction to the question but he didn't seem to be paying attention, he was looking around as if something were bugging him. It may have just been the curiosity of being in a new city; I didn't really care to think about it too much. I turned back to Murphy and gave a short chuckle.

"Another job, I've got to protect him," I said, shrugging.

"So you're babysitting?" Murphy asked, amusement shining in her blue eyes. I fought the urge to frown at her – she was about to give me another job. My lucky day right?

"Basically, so what'd you have that's so important?" I asked, one of my brows rising.

Murphy grew serious once more and began to make her way towards the building we were outside of. It seemed like an apartment building but it could have been something else for all I knew. I motioned for Naruto to follow, which he did. He didn't seem to be too upset with the arrangements at the moment. I was betting that he'd be annoyed after a few days though, even if he was a ninja he was also a teenager. I was expecting the whining to start very soon.

We walked in silence up a flight of stairs; Murphy knew how much I hated elevators and how much they hated me. I don't think she ever wanted to get in an elevator with me ever since that incident with the giant scorpion, but that's a story for another day. It didn't take too long to reach the floor where Murphy was leading us. It took even less time to get to the apartment.

Murphy's body language was telling me that she was uneasy about what ever was in the room even before the smell of burnt flesh reached my nose. I placed my gloved hand over my nose and made a disgusted noise. Behind me I could hear Naruto make a similar sound. When we were fully in the room I could see what the cause of the smell was. In the middle of the room in a puddle of burnt flesh and blood lay a badly burned corpse, its skin melted to the point it looked like wax.

"There was no sign of forced entry, no one saw anyone come or go nor did they hear anything. There's also no sign of what cause the fire," Murphy said, looking extremely agitated. Before I could say anything she burst out angrily. "He was a cop! Who could have done this?"

I didn't say anything but stared down at the body. I felt bad for the guy, a death like that must have hurt like hell. I frowned for a moment and took a deep breath, wincing at the smell. I didn't smell any sulfur under the scent of the flesh. So it hadn't been done with Hell fire but what else could it have been? There was no human fire hot enough to do this! A sound alerted me to Naruto's presence once more; I glanced over at him to see a look of horror on his face. Maybe I shouldn't have brought him along? Murphy seemed to be thinking the same thing and shooed us out of the room. As we left the room the forensic team passed us, a few of them nodding at me respectfully.

"I've got to do some research before I can tell you what or who did this Murph," I said with a sigh.

I glanced over at Naruto and frowned. He looked troubled. I wondered if this was the first dead body he'd ever seen, probably not. I mean, he was an assassin after all, or as close to one as most people got. He must have seen a lot of people die, right?

I said my goodbyes to Murphy and we began to make our way toward the car. Maybe it was time I paid my apprentice a home visit.

"Hello Harry, it's been a while since you visited," Michael said, stepping up to the car as I got out. His eyes flickered to Naruto as he came out of the car on the other side. I could see the he felt something off about the boy but couldn't figure out what. Before he could say anything else my apprentice's blue and pink head popped out from the front door.

"Come on Harry! I've done my homework, you don't need to come check on me!" she whined. See what did I tell you about teenagers, they're always whining.

"For your information Grasshopper I'm not here because of your homework. I need to talk to your father about something. But if you want something more to do keep my friend over there company." A smirk tugged at my lips. I saw the dirty look that Naruto gave me and ignored it. I didn't need him listening to my conversation with Michael, especially since it was about him. "Now why don't you go run along and play with kids your own age Naruto," I sad semi-sweetly, glancing over at him.

He gave me a glare that would have made Queen Mab piss her skirt and followed Molly into the house. I was almost positive I heard him mutter something about 'Damned Wizards' before he disappeared. Michael raised a brow at me and I lifted a shoulder indifferently.

"I've got a job to baby sit the kid for a while," I said calmly.

"What did you need to speak to me about Harry?" asked Michael, looking slightly amused. I sighed and thought for a moment on how to ask the question. Well might as well get it over with.

"Do you know of the demons called the Biju?" I asked, trying to keep my voice light.

Whatever Michael was expecting me to say, that was obviously wasn't it. He sputtered for a moment and then rubbed his hand over his chest nervously.

"I only know what Shiro told me a couple years before he died. He said that they were the most powerful and the cruelest of their kind." He was obviously troubled by my question and stared at me for a long moment. "Harry if you're thinking about messing with them I highly advise you not to. You may be strong but no one is that strong," he added gravely. I shook my head and gave a small smile.

"I've been getting that a lot lately but don't worry, I'm not thinking of fighting them. In fact I've been hired to protect one of them." I sighed heavily, giving him a knowing look. It took him a moment then his eyes widened then flew to the door which Naruto had just passed. He pushed slightly away from the car with an alarmed look on his face.

"You mean to tell me that he's..."

I held up my hand and shook my head at the man. I had thought that he'd be a bit more understanding about this. Wasn't he supposed to be all about giving second chances and such? Besides, from what I'd seen of the boy he didn't have a killer bone in his body. Not that I didn't doubt that if it came to it and there was no other way he'd do it, but other than that he seemed a lot like Michael to me. He probably gave many chances before he gave up on someone.

"He's not the Biju, he's the container." I said sternly.

Michael looked even more troubled by this but I could see the pity working its way into his eyes. He knew what it meant apparently. I couldn't imagine how bad the kid had had it when he was younger. From what I'd read, the Biju had been placed within him after it had tried to attack the village. I knew enough about humans to know that they wouldn't be able to see past that fact and see the person that he was; they'd see a demon and nothing more and that was no way for a child to live.

"My God bless his soul," Michael murmured, shaking his head softly. "What do you need of me Harry?"

"I need you, when the time comes, to help me protect him. From the information I've got, the people coming after him are just as dangerous as the Biju themselves. I can't do it myself," I said, quietly.

I hadn't realized entirely until now how sure I was that these people were going to come after him. If that woman, the great leader of the village, had to send him away then these people were not to be taken lightly. I wasn't taking them lightly and I knew neither would Michael. I would be prepared for them and anyone who knows anything about Wizards knows that a prepared Wizard is something you don't fuck with.

"You'll have my help."

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Sorry it took so long to get it up and posted. My beta was a bit busy with exams and didn't have time to work on it. Well now it's posted and ready for you to tell me what you think. [ :

Updates on this story may take a while because one of my friends is writing a Beauty and the Beast fic, Gentle Catastrophe go look her up, and it got me thinking about a Labyrinth styled Naruto fic. So now my brain is beating it's self against my skull to come up with ideas for it. I'm on Christmas break so it's all good, I'll have plenty of time to work on all of my stories and possibly work my way out of the hole I've dug myself into.

Until next time

Sailor Emerald


	3. Vampires and Demons

Why was I doing this again? That was the question that kept running through my mind. The more I found out about the Akatsuki, the more I realized I was in over my head. These were the type of people that even demons didn't want to mess with. Trust me; I'd noticed that they got tense when the name was brought up. I'd gone through almost all of my channels for information, just short of calling the Wardens to see if they knew anything about the Akatsuki. I didn't know their policy on Demon containers though, and that could be a bit problematic if they thought of them as enemies…

What was puzzling me was why they hadn't just attacked already, unless they didn't know where Naruto was. It seemed the most logical thing but I didn't want to take any chances, I was going to have to put an anti-tracking spell on something of his, that way no one would be able to use his blood or hair to track him. I'd noticed earlier the necklace that Naruto wore around his neck and decided that would be the best thing to place the spell on. I explained it to him, so why did I now find myself arguing with him about it? I had no idea, but isn't that the story of my life.

"No," he said flatly, a strange look of panic on his face that I didn't understand.

"Why not? I just need it for a minute, and then you'll have it back." I was more than a little annoyed with him.

"You can't put a spell on it!" Naruto moved a little further away from me.

I took a few steps forward, not letting him get too far away in case I had to jump him. Not that I would win, he was a ninja after all, and I was a humble wizard. I had little to no experience in the art of kicking ass ninja-style, and his file had only given me one piece of information about his fighting style: unpredictable. I was not going against him just yet, I liked living.

"And why is that, oh wise teenager?" I asked, the sarcasm slipping off my tongue.

"Because it has a seal on it! Mess with that and there's no telling how many tails I'll get if I lose control," snapped Naruto, his voice more of a growl than anything else.

Ah, that made sense…sort of. What did he mean by tails? I opened my mouth to ask, my curiosity temporarily stamping out my annoyance, when there was a knock on the big metal slab that served as my front door. Reason for a metal door? Well, when you have demons and zombies trying to kill you in your sleep, you need a little something extra to keep them out. You know what I mean…well, maybe you don't. You most likely have enough sense to ignore anything out of the ordinary that might happen around you.

I glanced over at Mouse, who'd been watching the two of us argue, to find his tail thumping against the floor as he stared at he door. Seemed that it was someone we knew and trusted, otherwise the dog wouldn't be so relaxed. I turned a glare on Naruto, who was still watching me warily.

"You're going to explain to me what the hell you mean by that in a minute. I apparently have more guests." I stalked over to the door and struggled for a moment to get it open; it had taken more of a beating than I in the past few years. By the time I got it open Mouse had come over to greet whoever was at the door.

"When are you going to get this thing fixed, Harry?"

I glared at my brother and pushed the door open a bit more so that he could get in. Thomas sidestepped my glare, rolling his eyes in return. Sometimes I wonder why I bother to put up with him most of the time, and then I remember he's pretty much the only family I have. I saw his eyes sweep the apartment, tensing when he noticed Naruto.

"What the hell…Harry, have you lost your mind?" he asked quickly, turning his attention back to me. I raised an eyebrow then glanced over a Naruto, who was staring at Thomas with a blank look but I could see the wheels turning behind all that blond hair. Mouse rubbed his head against Thomas's hand then trotted back to Naruto, nudging that boy until he tore his eyes away from the vampire and petted the dog.

"Now what would give you that idea?" I closed the door, watching from the corner of my eye as Naruto moved to sit on the sofa, Mouse following to pin him down. Thomas sputtered for a moment before getting back a bit of his cool. He eyed Naruto warily before moving to sit down.

"What's your name kid?" asked Thomas, his voice cautious and posture stiff. Maybe he knew more about the situation that I did. That wouldn't be a big surprise, I spend half of my time in the dark, and at times I like it that way. A strange look came of the boy's face, like he was fighting something. It passed after a moment and a look of 'the hell with it' passed over.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" His lips pulled into a large grin and he scratched the back of his head. Thomas and I blinked, surprised but the sudden change in his attitude. "Now I have the same question for you."

My brother stared at him before sitting back in his chair, a bit more wary than he had been before.

"Thomas," he muttered, looking confused. "Thomas Raith."

**NARUTO'S POV**

Raith? Where had I heard that name? I thought on it for a moment and then gave up. I didn't care enough to remember at the moment. It looked like he was a friend of Harry's, so he had to be okay. I could see that both of them were confused by my change in attitude but at the moment I didn't care. I wasn't acting all serious anymore; it was a pain to keep up. Why I'd thought I could keep it up until I was allowed to go home I don't know.

"Naruto, huh? I've heard a lot about you."

My attention was immediately back on this Thomas person. I didn't like the tone he'd used when he said that. What had he heard about me? Other that I was awesome, what else would someone say about me?

"Other than that I'm awesome what could you have heard about me?" I said, laughing slightly. He raised a brow and I heard Harry chuckle; yep I still had the gift of sarcasm.

"Well let's see: You painted the faces on the Hokage's monument, you stole the forbidden scroll after you failed your exam the third time, you and your team's first real mission was protecting a bridge builder, you trained with the Sannin Jiraiya for two years, and you fought Gaara of the desert and barely won by the skin of your teeth. I've also heard about your obsession with finding a one Sasuke Uchiha, and the beating you took from him during that recovery mission. And more recently I heard about your defeat of Pain of the Akatsuki." Thomas said, and I could see the smug smile starting to tug at his lips. Okay, maybe he'd heard a bit more about me.

"Okay, is that all you've heard because all I'm hearing is how awesome I am?" I said, trying to look cool and nonchalant. I saw his eyebrow rise slightly but I just gave him my signature grin and leaned further back against the sofa. No way was I going to let this smug looking ass get the best of me in a battle of wits. Okay, so maybe most people don't think I'm that smart and most of the time I'm not but when it comes to banter I'm almost an expert.

**HARRY'S POV**

I blinked at Thomas for a moment before having to bite my tongue to keep my chuckle from escaping. The kid sure had guts, and an ego, to talk to the older man in that tone of voice. My thoughts skimmed over what Thomas had said and I realized that only three and a half of those things had been in the kids file: His obsession with Sasuke, the fact he'd trained with this Jiraiya person, and the fact that he'd failed the exam three times. It hadn't mentioned any of the rest of it.

"Why'd you steal the scroll?" I asked, keeping my voice bland. His blue eyes lowered and he scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Well you see what had happened was one of my Sensei's wasn't the best person in the world and used the fact that I wanted to be a ninja against me. He tricked me into stealing the scroll by telling me that if I could get it and learned one of the techniques in it that Iruka-sensei would have to let me pass." he said, and I noticed that his voice grew a bit bitter toward the end of it. No wonder, I'd be pissed if someone tricked me like that. Before I could stop it the next question slipped from my lips.

"Did you learn the technique?"

_Great Harry, you really are asking to get beat up aren't you?_

I was about to open my mouth to take back the question when the grin returned to Naruto's face. "Hell yes!" he said voice a bit lower than a yell.

I raised a brow and made a motion with my hand that clearly said 'show me'. I got a bad feeling the moment I did it too because an evil grin began to tug at the blonds lips. I watched as he stood up and placed his hand in the form of a cross, opened his mouth.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he cried, moments before several puffs of smoke appeared. I could feel the spike in his magical energies and I wanted to piss my pants, they were that powerful. I glanced over at Thomas to see a flicker of fear pass over his face at the spike in energy.

As the smoke cleared my jaw fell open as, around the boy in a semi-circle, where there had been nothing a few moments ago stood four perfect copies of Naruto. All of them grinned and raised their hands in peace signs.

Naruto's grin grew wider as he dismissed the clones. I couldn't think straight for a moment but I pulled myself together rather quickly.

"What you yelled, what does it mean in English?" I asked, more curious than I aught to be.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu."

The answer didn't come from Naruto this time but rather from Thomas. Both Naruto and I stared at him questionably. He lifted his shoulder in a shrug and gave a smirk.

"My family has connections in the Shinobi part of the world, I picked some things up." He said, his smirk growing wider and I understood the implications in that one sentence. I wondered how many women there were being fed from and pushed the thought away. I didn't want to know. I glanced over at Naruto as an excuse not to look at my brother and noticed a very peculiar look on his face.

"Which village?" He asked simply, his body tense. I glanced quickly at my brother who looked a little uncomfortable. Strange, what did a White Court Vampire have to be scared of? Something didn't sit well in my mind. The two didn't add up....

"Well you see...." I saw my brother's eyes dart toward the door, as if he was contemplating running away as fast as he could from the question. Nope, none of this was sitting well in my mind.

"Which. Village." Naruto growled, his body language clearly saying he was not amused by the game Thomas was playing. Obviously Thomas could see that too.

"_Otogakure" He muttered, looking rather uncomfortable. The name didn't register in my mind but it apparently meant something to Naruto. A growl escaped his lips and Thomas looked alarmed, almost as if he was afraid of Naruto. _

_"__Not anymore though, we cut off ties with them a couple of days before Snake boy died!" Thomas said quickly as Naruto took a step forward. Snake Boy? Who the hell could he be talking about? I have no idea but it had to be someone who'd done something to the kid judging from the way he was acting. _

_"__Did. You. Know. Sasuke?" Naruto said through clenched teeth, apparently trying to get a hold on his tempter. _

_"__Yeah, bit of an asshole if you ask me. Acted as if he was the best thing that walked the earth and we all should fall on the ground and kiss his shoes for even being allowed in his presence. Look, I know what the next question is going to be. No, I don't know where he went and I frankly don't care." Thomas said, relaxing a little bit. _

_A bitter chuckle left Naruto's lips as he moved to sit back down on the sofa. There was a bit of a slump in his shoulders but it disappeared by time he spoke again. _

_"__Yep, that sounds just like Sasuke. Sounds like he hasn't changed a bit." Naruto said his voice lighter than before but not by much. _

**NARUTO'S POV**

I lay on the sofa, staring at the ceiling, for a long time. Harry had gone to bed a long time ago, leaving me alone to think. Thinking at this point was not a good idea. I'd been here for a total of three days and things were just as complicated as they were before. I tried to keep the image of the burnt corpse out of my mind but it forced its way in.

Why did the scene seem so familiar? Had I seen someone die that way? I didn't know but it gave me a bad feeling. Maybe it didn't have anything to do with the Akatsuki or any one else that might be after me but I couldn't rule out the possibility. That's what scared me the most, not like I'd admit it out loud. It scared me to know that I had no idea when they'd come for me or even if I'd make it out alive. Back home I'd been so sure that I could handle it but now I wasn't so sure. Now that even Tsunade was worried a little bit of doubt had crept into my mind.

Another image entered my mind that made me cringe: Sasuke. I'd talked about him a bit too much tonight. After Thomas had left Harry had grilled me about him and all of the other things that Thomas had mentioned about me. It had brought back a lot of memories that I had never wanted to think about ever again.

Here I was, being protected by some man I didn't know. Not training, not getting any closer to my goals and I still had no clue as to how to get him to come home. I didn't even know I was strong enough to face him again. I shook my head, banishing the thoughts. I'd never get anything done if I thought like that. I'd only manage to get myself killed if I thought like that.

**Nah, you'll only get yourself caught by Madara and his cronies. Then you'll die. **

_Aren't you just a lovely ray of sunshine furball? _

**Just being realistic. **

_What do you want? I need to get some sleep._

**I just thought I'd warn you about that Thomas character. He's not what he seems to be.**

_I'm not in the mood for a riddle Kyuubi. Just tell me what you mean and leave me be. _

**Aww, that takes away all of my fun. What I mean is he's not human. Did you not feel his chakra?**

_Not human? If he's not human then what the hell is he?_

**My guess would be a vampire, of what court I don't know. Just watch your back around him. I don't care if the Wizard trusts him, I don't. **

I didn't answer the talking fox in my head, trust me it's not as bad as it sounds, and he didn't press for an answer. Never before had I felt so out of my league as I did now. Vampires for crying out loud? How the hell was I supposed to fight him if he was a freaking Vampire. I rolled over on my side and glared at the wall. My last thought before I slipped into sleep was that when I got back to the village I was going to kill Granny Tsunade for putting me in this situation.

* * *

So, what do you think? It didn't take me that long to write it but I procrastinated for a week and my beta procrastinated for two weeks. But now I have it up.

I have a quick request, could all of you go to my profile and vote on my poll? I'd love to know your input on the next story I write [ :

Thank all of you for reading and also a huge thank you to Fullmetal Embers, my beta. Without her you would be reading something riddled with mistakes and would probably be unreadble.

~Sailor Emerald


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